Facebook is purportedly smothering the free discourse privileges of a Russian news outlet that has been prohibited from the internet based life stage, another claim claims — despite the fact that the outlet has been connected to Russians blamed for decision impedance.

Government Agency of News and its sole investor, Evgeniy Zubarev, demand the news site is the real deal, not an outlet purposefully selling falsehood, the office asserted in a claim recorded in the Northern District of California.

At the point when Facebook FB, – 1.01% hindered its page and erased its record in April amid a cleanse of in excess of 270 records, the claim said the web based life mammoth tarred the Saint Petersburg-based news webpage as an activity to sow division and promulgation in America.

“Facebook, while claiming to protect the public from ‘fake news’ is actually engaging in censorship and denying [Federal Agency of News] subscribers of access to a legitimate news organization,” the lawsuit said.

Federal Agency of News called itself “an independent, authentic and legitimate news agency,” and distanced itself from its founder and first general director, Aleksandra Krylova and its chief accountant Elena Khusyaynova.

In February, prosecutors working in Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference during the 2016 election indicted Krylova as part of a group of 13 Russian nationals who allegedly tried interfering with the presidential elections, working through a group called the Internet Research Agency.

The lawsuit maintained that Krylova, by the time of her indictment, had “no connection with [Federal Agency of News] for more than three years.” Though prosecutors claimed Krylova was part of the Internet Research Agency, the news site said it “has no knowledge of this allegation and therefore does not know if it is accurate or not.”

Meanwhile, Virginia federal prosecutors unsealed charges against Khusyaynova, saying she conspired to meddle in the 2018 midterm elections. The lawsuit, however, said Khusyaynova had no role in the Federal Agency of News’ editorial content “and is not aware of what stories are going to be published or not published.”